Organizing Housework for the New Year

Looking back on last year and housework. Don't you wish you could make a new plan to keep things organized and the washing caught up? Trust me, it is possible! I'd like to suggest a few tips to frustrated and overwhelmed homemakers that I've used for many years. I've passed them down to my daughter and sons as well. Fortunately, my daughter picked up on it! As for the sons, well, they're still struggling but I figure one out of three ain't bad!

First, use the month of January to reorganize. Unfortunately, to do this you'll need to invest in storage products. After the Holidays, there are a lot of plastic crates, etc on sale. It doesn't matter if it's red and green or a holiday design, who cares! Go through one a closet at a time. To attempt more than one at a time gets you feeling overwhelmed, so keep it down to one.

• Go through clothes and make piles of clothes for discarding. If it hasn't been worn in 6 months it more than likely won't be worn.
• Yard Sale Items and clothes: If you're REALLY ambitious, go ahead and price and tag them. When finished, box up or crate them up and you'll be ready for the next sale.
• If you're like me, you have craft items in there. Do a craft item box and next time you look for them you know where they're at (and that's sure a good feeling).
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• If you have several skeins of yarn or several pair of shoes, the pocketed hanging organizer works wonders. The absolute best ones are the canvas ones which have have little "cubby" pockets. These take up very little space and it's amazing how much these will hold.
• As for toys, use the same plan as the clothes. If it hasn't been played with for 6 month, discard, Yard sale, or donate it. Goodwill stores, etc will write you a tax donation slip for tax use.
• Items that are in your closet and out of place: Take the time to put it back where it goes. Remember, Rome wasn't built in a day and this will take time, but it's a great feeling to see an organized closet. Use the crates for the items you must store. Using an index card, or simply paper and tape, make a label to let you know what's inside. Then you won't need to dig to find what's inside.

My second suggestion is to form new habits concerning dish washing and laundry. Try this for a week or so and you'll make it a practice. If you're fortunate enough to have a dishwasher, do not go to bed without loading it. If you hand wash, use the same practice. Same with laundry, once you make one big laundry "catch-up day", make a practice to wash the days clothes before bedtime. If you do this; you can keep yourself caught up.

Now I want you to know, I'm not SUZY HOMEMAKER, by any means, but I raised three kids using this method. A piled up house and laundry room makes for a frustrated Mom. And you know the old saying "If Mom ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!" Speaking of happy, Happy New Year!

By Sharon from Ravenna, KY